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Sunday, February 7, 2016

Historical Sew Monthly #1- Procrastination: Regency Ballgown

I actually finished this on January 23, just in the nick of time for the Jane Austen Evening Tea and Ball, but I hadn't gotten around to blogging about it until now. How fitting for the Historical Sew Monthly's Procrastination Challenge!

The procrastination part is twofold, I had the fabric in the stash for quite some time before cutting it...and then I partially cut it out and abandoned it! Once I started back on it I realized why. Because I'm tall I can't use it selvage to selvage and have the sari trim be hem decoration. It would be way too short. So I had to cut the skirt lengths from the middle then cut off both decorated sides and had to painstakingly frankenstein them together into one long piece of trim. It was a PAIN IN THE BUTT. But I'm happy with how it turned out, it is short enough to dance it, very flowy and pretty and cool because the fabric is light.

The Challenge: Procrastination

Fabric: Gold embroidered silk sari from the stash

Pattern: A modified version of the Folkwear Empire Pattern

Year: 1800-1810

Notions: Thread, hooks and eyes, narrow gold cord from the stash for the neckline drawstring.

Yes, I am 5'8. So my solution was to cut the fabric of the dress from the middle of the sari, leaving the embroidered strips on the ends alone. Then cutting those out and sewing them back onto the sari after the skirt was put together. It was painstaking and long but not difficult.